Prince Harry asked Queen Elizabeth II for permission to marry Meghan Markle while they
were in a field of dead birds.
Her response shot down Harry's hopes, too.
In 2023, the FBI released some shocking documents: In 1983, they had been on high alert during
Queen Elizabeth's visit to the U.S. Newly released documents uploaded to the FBI's public
records store, The Vault, noted that law enforcement had been alerted to the possibility that the
queen would be in danger as she toured the west coast.
In addition to planned protests expected to attract thousands of people, there was a concern
that at least one man was determined to assassinate the Queen when she appeared in San Francisco.
The exact circumstances are unclear and the report is heavily redacted, but it does reveal
that an unidentified law enforcement officer had alerted others to the fact that he had
reportedly gotten a mysterious phone call.
The man on the phone claimed he was going to either drop something onto the Queen's
yacht as it passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, or he would follow her to Yosemite
and kill her there.
The man also told the officer that the assassination attempt was going to be carried out in retribution
for the death of his daughter, who he said had been killed in the fighting in Northern Ireland.
The New York Times reported that there was no way to tell if anyone had ever been arrested
over the threats, but the visit went off without incident.
Queen Elizabeth II had a very specific accent — so specific that it was sometimes called
the Queen's English.
"I keep mine in here."
"Whoa."
Her accent was that particular British accent associated with the uber-posh, but after her
passing, the BBC ran a story on the results of a fascinating study done by researchers
at the Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing.
They found that contrary to popular belief, her accent actually changed quite a bit over
the years.
She began her public life speaking in what the study called the "upper-class Received
Pronunciation of the 1950s."
"Today is another landmark because television has made it possible for many of you to see
me in your homes."
Over the years, it changed to what was described as a more middle-class accent.
They noted that it was so gradual it was impossible to hear without listening for it over the
course of decades of recordings.
They also discovered that by the 1990s, she had started to move back into the more posh
and proper tones of the 1950s.
"No one who knew Diana will ever forget her."
It's a discovery that disputes the long-standing theory that our accents are well-established
by adulthood.
The study's authors suggest that tracking the Queen's changing accent gives credence
to the idea that not only do we unconsciously and imperceptibly mimic the accents of those
we speak with most often, but that as we age into senior citizen territory, older memories
become stronger and more affectionately remembered, which could account for her regression to
her earlier ways of speaking.
"Sounds like President Trump, or President Obama."
Whether it has something to do with having your face on currency around the world, a
multi-million-dollar net worth, or just being the figurehead for a centuries-old institution,
it's hard to imagine Queen Elizabeth II doing some of the normal things that everyone else
does on a pretty regular basis — especially when it comes to food.
She did, after all, have an army of staff that included royal chefs.
It wasn't until Prince Harry released his memoir, "Spare," that the world got a glimpse
into Queen Elizabeth II's hidden culinary skills.
And while there's not that much that's normal and super-relatable about summer vacation
in a castle, he painted a picture of backyard BBQ bliss that many people can get on board with.
While Prince Philip tended the grill, Harry recalled that his grandmother made her own
surprising contributions to the feast, writing about one particular night in 2001:
"Granny's specialty was the salad dressing.
She'd whisked a large batch."
What kind of salad dressing?
Harry didn't share, but if he remembered that specific detail after 20-plus years, it must
have been royally good.
Being a part of the royal family comes with all kinds of rules and regulations, and when
he published "Spare," Prince Harry made it quite clear that he found many of them oppressive.
That included an apparently long-standing tradition that led to him having to ask his
grandmother's permission to propose to Meghan Markle, which he said came as a complete surprise to him.
He wrote:
"It didn't make sense.
A grown man asking his grandmother for permission to marry?"
"I wanted to do it earlier.
Like, I was…because I had to ask permission from my grandmother, I couldn't do it outside
of the UK."
Harry wrote that he carefully chose a time when he knew she'd be in a good mood: During
a hunting trip to Sandringham.
They were out in a field looking for their dead birds when he finally popped the question
about popping the question.
He recalled his grandmother's reaction as being less than the enthusiastic response
he had hoped for, writing:
"At last she replied, 'Well, then, I suppose I have to say yes.'"
Harry wrote that he was completely taken aback by her response and that he wasn't entirely
sure if that meant she approved of the match, or if her phrasing was her way of saying that
she absolutely didn't.
In her final years, Queen Elizabeth II was faced with a massive scandal involving her
son, Prince Andrew.
She famously stripped him of his public royal role and military titles just a few months
before her death, but what did that mean for the relationship she shared with her son's
ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson?
In 2023, Fergie said that their relationship was always a comfortable one — and as if
there was any proof needed, there's the fact that she adopted the last two royal Corgis.
Still, in an interview with Good Morning America, she also revealed that along with the Queen's
friendship came a relentless sort of pressure.
"I don't know whether it's the Queen passing on that I now think I can sort of say openly
what I want to say without worrying I'm going to offend somebody."
She also shared the fact that it was exactly what her former mother-in-law wanted for her.
She revealed to several outlets that in their final conversation, the queen encouraged her
to just be herself.
"She'd say go on, get out there, keep being yourself.
That's what she always used to say to me."